Tab assembly system



April 12, 1966 c. w. BUSK TAB ASSEMBLY SYSTEM 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. '7. 1961 INVENTOR. CHfl/PL E5 WBc/SK. @K

ATTOPNEK ApriHZ, 3966 c. w. BUSK TAB ASSEMBLY SYSTEM 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. '7, 1961 IN VE N TUE 55 Bus-K.

AITUP/YEK BYCHAPL C. W. BUSK TAB ASSEMBLY SYSTEM April '12, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 8 Filed Sept. 7. 1961 IN V EN TOR.

L? BY CHAPLESWBUSK W z; LI/

United States Patent 3,245,859 TAB ASSEMBLY SYSTEM Charles W. Bush, 15313 Northern Blvd., Oyster Bay Cove, N.Y. Filed Sept. 7, 1961, Ser. No. 136,474 4 Claims. (Cl. 156479) The present invention relates to a tab assembly system and particularly to a processing and mechanism for attaching tab material to the edge of a sheet.

It is among the objects of the present invention to provide a simple high speed mass produced tab assembly system in which a tab forming material whether of plastic sheet or other tab forming material may be readi- 1y attached at relatively high speed to the edges of a paper or other sheet with a minimum of manual intervention.

Among the objects of the present invention is to provide a tab forming mechanism which will operate at a high speed of production with a minimum of servicing and manual attention and which will reliably attach tabs of any desired width or dimension to paper or other sheets.

A still further object is to provide a novel index card or sheet manufacturing system in which the entire operation may be carried out automatically and at a high rate of production with a minimum of labor and without servicing or continuous adjustment with assurance that there will be a permanent attachment of index tabs without requiring constant inspection, gauging or other costly oversight operations.

Still further objects and advantages will appear in the more detailed description set forth below, it being understood, however, that this more detailed description is given by way of illustration and explanation only and not by way of limitation, since various changes therein may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

In accomplishing the above objects, it has been found most satisfactory to feed the sheets or cards, which are to become index elements, one at a time by a vacuum or friction feed to an assembly point.

The tab forming material is also fed to the assembly point desirably transversely either to the sheet or card feed and obliquely to the sheet face card feed.

Desirably, the tab forming material is cutofi in the desired lengths and is fed in the desired widths and is folded and picked up by the further edge of the cards or sheets as they move through the machine.

Where the tab forming material is of a thermoplastic sheet material such as cellulose acetate, polyethylene or vinyl polymers, the thin sheet with the folded material covering one edge thereof is passed between hot pressure rollers to cause a permanent junction between the tab forming material, and the base sheet or card as the case may be of paper or other materials.

Then the covered edge may be cut or formed to supply the proper index sheet or index card as the case may be.

This operation may be carried out at a high rate of production and substantially continuously without manual intervention and with a minimum of repair or adjustment or modification of the machine.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists of the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts as hereinafter more specifically described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein is shown an embodiment of the invention, but it is to be understood that changes, variations and modifications can be resorted to which fall within the scope of the claims hereunto appended.

In the drawings wherein like reference characters denote corresponding parts throughout the several views:

3,245,859 Patented Apr. 12, 1966 FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevational view illustrating the-various steps and operation of the machine and the operations carried out at various stages of the feed and assembly.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side elevational diagrammatic view showing the feed of the tape material.

FIG. 3 is a top perspective view of one form of index card or sheet which may be formed by the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary top perspective view similar to the upper left hand portion of FIG. 3 showing the tab after attachment and before die cutting upon an enlarged scale as compared to FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a top perspective view upon an enlarged scale as compared to FIG. 3 of a portion of the index card or sheet showing the tab after die cutting.

FIG. 6 is a side vertical sectional view of the assembly section of the machine showing the manner in which the tab is tucked and fed to assembly position where it is picked up by the forwardly moving sheet or card as the case may be shown upon the line 66 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the mechanism of FIG. 6 showing the side feed of the .tab forming material as well as the feeding arrangement taken upon the line 77 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary side sectional view showing the formation of the folded tab and its positioning so that it will be in the path of the forwardly moving index card or sheet and FIG. 8 being upon a slightly enlarged scale as compared to a similar section of the upper left hand corner shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary transverse vertical sectional view similar to FIG. 8 and similar to the section shown at the upper left hand corner of FIG. 6 showing the forwardly moving card or sheet picking up the folded index card material.

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary transverse vertical sectional view taken upon the line 10-10 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary transverse vertical sectional view taken upon the line 11-11 of FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view of the structures at the lower left hand corner of FIG. 1 upon an enlarged scale as compared to FIG. 7.

FIG. 13 is a transverse horizontal sectional view similar to FIG. 12 but showing a different position of the tucker blade as compared to FIG. 12 and with the tab forming strip material being clamped in position after severance.

Referring to FIG. 1, a stack of cards A are fed one at a time by the conveyor B under the contacting roller balls C.

Although various shapes and sizes of cards, sheets may be utilized, there is shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 an index card D to the edge of which is to be applied the folded thermo-plastic tab forming element E, for example, of cellulose acetate which is then die cut as indicated at F to form the index tab G.

After the cards are fed to the assembly position H in FIG. 1, the supply roll I of the strip of material which forms the tab feeds upwardly as indicated at K and then into a slot or position L in the side of the machine.

As indicated in FIGS. 8 and 9, the strip K is cut off, forced through the slot M by the blade N to form the folded element P (see FIGS. 8 and 9) which is picked up by the card D after the blade N has been removed.

By referring to FIG. 10, it will be noted that the strip K is fed into the machine from the side thereof through the slot L and after being cut, is forced through the slot M by the reciprocating tucker blade N.

The folded tab as shown at Q in FIG. 1, then is forced between the heated rollers R, and with the tab E in posi} 3 tion thereon, it is passed over the conveyor S to the die cutting operation T (see FIG. 1).

In the die cutting operation T, the side portions F are cut away as indicated in FIGS. 3-5, and the final index card is discharged to stacking or collecting position as indicated at U in FIG. 1.

Referring to the detailed showing of the mechanisms in FIGS. 6 to 13, the cards or sheets D are fed under the large roller bearings C acting as weights and held in position by the grill (see FIG. 6).

The conveyor B has a torque plate 21 riding over the roller 22 which is also carried by the rollers 23 and 24 (see FIG. 1).

The roller 23 may be carried by the arm 25 having the spring adjustment 26 and thepivot mount 27 (see FIG. 1).

The stack of cards A may be fed one by one in the direction 27 of FIG. 1 by suction or friction as the case may be.

The present invention is particularly directed to the assembly arrangement H at the left of FIGS. 6 and 7 according to which the strip of tab forming material from the roll I is formed into folded tabs which are then picked up by the index cards or sheets in their movement to the left.

Referring to FIG. 2, the roll of material has a pivot mount 28 on the side 29 of the machine, and it is fed over the. guide roller 30 pivotly mounted at 31.

The strip is then turned as indicated at 32 through an angle of 90 degrees, and then fed over the roller 33 on the shaft 34 through the slot L in the side frame V of the machine (see FIGS. 2 and 7).

The feed is provided with intermittent feed rolls 35 and 36 (see the roller part of FIG. 7) which pick up the strip K and carry it through the guide mechanism 37.

The intermittent feed is accomplished by means of a crank 38 having a drive connection 39 pivotly connected thereto at 40 (see FIG. 7).

The crank connection 39 is driven from the eccentric brake 40 on the drive gear 41 having the shaft 42.

The drive gear 41 is driven from the main drive gear 43 onthe pivot 44 (see FIG. 1).

The shaft 45 of the main intermittent drive roller 36 will be driven by the crank arrangement 38-39 while the other roller 35 will be an idler pressure roller on the shaft 46 (see FIGS. 1 and 7).

After the strip passes through the frame of the machine as indicated at L, through the frame V of the machine, it will be in position to be cut oif as indicated in FIGS. 12 and 13. 7

Inside of the frame B as indicated in FIGS. 12 and 13 is positioned the fixed guide plate mounted at 61 upon the inturned side wall or structure V.

On the other side of the side plate is the oscillating braker holder plate 62 (see FIGS. 12 and 13).

The brake plate 62 is of right angular formation, and it has a short-leg 63 with a stop projection 64 which abuts the face 65 of the structural element 66.

Theright angular holding or brake plate 62 is pivotally mounted at '67 on the machine structure, and it has a recessed heel portion 68.

Outside of the recessed heel portion 68 is the flat brake face 69 which is designed to clamp the strip K in the position shown in FIG. 13 when the strip is being cut.

The right angular brake plate or-lever '62 is normally biased to the right by the coil spring 76 which is received in the recess 71 in the ,plate 69 and in the recess 72 on the arm 73 of the lever 62.

The die cutting mechanism has a carrier block 74 (see FIGS. 12 and 13) which carries the angle member 75 with a projection portion 76 recessed at 77 and having a forwardly projecting clamping tip 78.

This-angle portion 76 will pass beyond the edge 79 of the guide plate 60, and the tip 78 will pass inside of the plate 80 shearing ofif a'free tab portion 81 as indicated in FIG. 13.

When this takes place, the tab 78 will clamp the unsevered portion 82 (see FIG. 13) of the tab forming strip K.

The free end or free tab 81 as shown in FIG. 13 are then being picked up by the reciprocating tucker blade N and forced into the slot M which causes folding of the tab material as indicated at P while permitting it to snap back resiliently as indicated in the expanded portions of B in FIGS. 8 and 9.

The cutting mechanism fits on the trunnions 83 and 84 (see FIGS.1O and 11).

The backs of the female dies 85, 86, and 87 are shown in FIG. 11 leaving a slot 88 for guidance of the tucker blade N.

These dies are held in position by the bolts or screws 89, 9t), 91, and 92 (see FIG. 1).

The tucker blade as best shown in FIG. 7 has a basic structure with side extensions 111.

The blade is retracted by the spring 112 connected at 113 to the tab 114 and at its other ends 115 to its bracket 116 (see FIGS. 6 and 7).

The die cutting mechanism which operates the structures 74 and 75 is driven by the eccentric arm 117 (see FIGS. 6 and 7) which is pivotally mounted at 118 (between the ears 119.

The ears are mounted upon a block system 74 which drives the shearing mechanism back and forth.

The eccentric arm has an eccentric connection at 120 on the shaft 42 between the members 121 and 122.

Also mounted on the shaft 42 is the collar 123 of the cam arm 124 (see FIGS. 6 and 7) which acts against the roller 125 on the slide member 126.

This slide member 126 will reciprocate the tucker knife N and cause it to force the severed end of the strip K through the slot M.

The slide will be retracted by the spring 112 after the tucking operation takes place.

The rear end 127 of the slide 126 will have a rear stop 128 mounted at 129 upon the frame structure 130 (see FIG. 7.).

The male die 80 of the cutting mechanism has the curved edge portions 131 show'n'in FIG. 10 which together with the similar shaped edge portion of the female die indicated at 132 of FIG. 11 will shape the ends of the tab forming strip as indicated at 133 in FIGS. 3., 4 and 5.

It will be noted that the female dies of FIG. 11 are separated at 135 to receive the male die member 80, and they also are separated at 88 to receive the tucker blade N'Which is usually positioned midway between the side edges of the cut off strip 81.

The tucker blade as shown in FIGS. 6, 8 and 9 will then pickup the cut off portion 81 and will force it obliquely upwardly through the slot N as indicated in FIGS. 6, 8 and 9.

The forcing of the cutstrip of material N in FIGS. 8

and 9 will give it a bend at 136, and as soon as it passes out at the end of the slot at 137 (see FIGS. 6, 8 and 9), the free ends will snap apart to lodge in the recesses 138 in the bottom structure-and the notch 139 in the top structure 140. The blade N will then be withdrawn from the position shown in FIG. 8 by the operation of the carn'124 on the roller 125, and the sheetD will then be fed into the corner 136 as shown in FIGQ9 picking up this folded tab and forcing it between the hot rollers R in FIG. 1 where it will be semifused onto the edge of the paper as indicated at Q in FIG. 1 and E in FIG. 4.

After the heat fusion by the rolls R in FIG. 1, the gear taking the form of FIG. 4 will be carried by the conveyor S to the tab cutter and formed atposition T in FIG. 1.

As is diagrammatically illustrated, there is a vertical reciprocating shaft 'driven by the eccentric 161 on theshaft'162.

This shaft 162 is driven by the belt 163 from the reduction gear and pulley 164 and driven by the electric motor 165 (see FIG. 1).

The reciprocating element 160 carries the top die 166 which is moved against the bottom die 167 with the tab portion E therebetween to cut away the sections F and leave a tab G of desired shape and side on the card.

Essentially, in operation, the cards or sheets A will feed one by one to the assembly position H in FIG. 1 where there is presented a folded tab material which has been previously cut off from the strip K and has been folded and permitted to open so it will be directly in the path of the forwardly moving edge of the card or sheet D.

This card will then pick up the folded tab at its inside corner and will force it through the rollers R where upon the tab at position Q will become welded to the forward edge of the card D.

The card D will then be pasted to the cutting position as shown at the left of FIG. 1 to form the final tab indicated in FIGS. 3 and 5 from the initial attachment indicated at E in FIG. 4.

The crank arrangement as indicated at 38 and 39 in FIGS. 1 and 7 will have a suitable slip clutch arrangement so as to intermittently feed the tab forming strip K into the slot L in the side of the lever.

The blocks 74 will reciprocate the female dies on the trunnions 83 and 84 to sever off the inside end of the strip K which will then be forced through the slot M by the tucker blade N.

The intermittent feed achieved by the crank arrangement 38 and 39 will control the width of the tab forming material, and the tucker blade is so wide that it will accomodate any width of tab even for the full width of the card or sheet.

The folded tab after passing through the slide N will snap open to obstruct the path of movement of the card or sheet '-D which will then pick it up.

The reciprocating motion of the tucker blade N is accomplished by the cam arm 124 which rides on the cam roller 125 (see FIG. 6).

If the strip is being severed as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, it will be held by the brake or clamping plate 62 and a forwardly projecting edge 78 of the female die structure.

To permit free movement of the next section of the strip K, the right angle holding or brake plate 62 will be stopped at 64 against the face 65.

The movement of the tucker blade N is quite fast, and it advantageously advances as soon as the cutting operation has taken place and immediately forces the cut off strip through the slot M to form the open tab element B in FIGS. 8 and 9.

As many changes could be made in the above tab assembly system, and many widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, what is claimed is:

1. A machine for assembling cut and folded tabs onto the edges of index sheets comprising a horizontal conveyer belt with an inlet end and an outlet end, a feed for said sheets at the inlet end located above the inlet end an assembly device at the outlet end, said device including an upper shouldered holder above the belt at the outlet end, and a lower shouldered holder below the belt at the outlet end, a feed below said belt at said outlet to feed said out and folded tabs obliquely upwardly toward and between said holders and in the direction of movement from the inlet end toward the outlet end, a strip supply roll feed below the belt, means to cut said strip into tab lengths, a slotted guide member, means to feed said strip before cutting across said slotted member, a tucker blade to force said cut tab lengths into the slot of said slotted member in folded condition and between said upper and lower holders, said holders having shoulders facing away from the direction of feed of the cards, said folded cut tabs expanding between said holders so that the cut edges contact said shoulders and means to synchronize the feed of the cut tabs and the cards.

2. A machine for assembling cut and folded tabs onto the edges of index sheets comprising a horizontal conveyor belt with an inlet end and an outlet end, a feed for said sheets at the inlet end located above the inlet end an assembly device at the outlet end, said device including an upper shouldered holder above the belt at the outlet end, and a lower shouldered holder below the belt at the outlet end, a slotted guideway below said belt having a slot leading obliquely upwardly to and between the holders, a strip roll supply, means to feed the strip from the roll supply across said slot, means to cut a tab length from the strip while positioned across said slot and means to force the median portion of said tab into said slot to fold and to advance it to between said holders where it will snap apart and be held by the shoulders of said holders.

3. The machine of claim 2, said last mentioned means being a tucker blade.

4. The machine of claim 2, said means to feed the strip feeding it transversely to the direction of the slot at a position below the guideway.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,050,455 8/1936 Ohlsen et al. l56484 2,058,035 10/1936 Rand 156-267 XR 2,690,104 9/1954 Schwartz et al. 156-583 XR ALEXANDER WYMAN, Primary Examiner.

EARL M. BERGERT, Examiner. 

2. A MACHINE FOR ASSEMBLING CUT AND FOLDED TABS ONTO THE EDGES OF INDEX SHEETS COMPRISING A HORIZONTAL CONVEYOR BELT WITH AN INLET END AND AN OUTLET END, A FEED FOR SAID SHEETS AT THE INLET END LOCATED ABOVE THE INLET END AN ASSEMBLY DEVICE AT THE OUTLET END, SAID DEVICE INCLUDING AN UPPER SHOULDERED HOLDER ABOVE THE BELT AT THE OUTLET END, AND A LOWER SHOULDERED HOLDER BELOW THE BELT AT THE OUTLET END, A SLOTTED GUIDEWAY BELOW SAID BELT HAVING A SLOT LEADING OBLIQUELY UPWARDLY TO AND BETWEEN THE HOLDERS, A STRIP ROLL SUPPLY, MEANS TO FEED THE STRIP FROM THE ROLL SUPPLY ACROSS SAID SLOT, MEANS TO CUT A TAB LENGTH FROM THE STRIP WHILE POSITIONED ACROSS SAID SLOT AND MEANS TO FORCE THE MEDIAN PORTION OF SAID TAB INTO SAID SLOT TO FOLD AND TO ADVANCE IT TO BETWEEN SAID HOLDERS WHERE IT WILL SNAP APART AND BE HELD BY THE SHOULDERS OF SAID HOLDERS. 